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Monday, 25 August 2014

After having to chuck out my Sally Hansen top coat when it got incredibly goopy halfway through the bottle, and with the threat of having to do the same to my Essie Good to Go top coat, I decided it was time to try out polish thinners. Both top coats weren't exactly cheap and for the money you pay, you expect to at least get to use up more than half of the product. I also wanted to thin out my O.P.I Alpine Snow, which has gotten quite thick.

After doing a bit of research, I finally settled on the O.P.I thinner. The Essie one apparently doesn't work on top coats at all, and a lot of people mentioned a bunch of harmful ingredients in the Seche Vite one so I decided to skip out on that one for the time being.

The instructions are simple: add 2-3 drops, shake well.

I first tried the thinner on my Essie top coat. I added in 3 drops at first, and shook vigorously. Made no difference. I added in 3 more drops, shook again, and this time I also stirred it with the blunt end of a skewer. It did thin out a little, but nowhere near as much as I was expecting. I can't complain too much though, since it wasn't made for Essie polishes and I've heard that thinners don't always work on other brands of polish.

I then preceded to try it out on Alpine Snow. Again, I added 2-3 drops and shook hard. And again, nothing happened. I added 2 more drops, shook and stirred again, and this time it did work well: it thinned out nicely. I would have liked it to be a little bit thinner, but I didn't want to add in more thinner, just in case it ended up a bit too thin.

I'm going to try this out on a few more brands. So far, I'm not loving it. The instructions aren't great at all. If you're resorting to using a thinner, you're polish has probably gotten quite thick and as such, 2-3 drops doesn't quite cut it. And I don't think shaking a thick polish is going to do much either: you really have to stir it in to make sure it's thinning out evenly.

Monday, 4 August 2014

I seriously can't believe it's August already, it seems like just yesterday that I walked out of my last exam!

Anyhoo, I wanted to share some of my favourite products this month, stuff I've been been pretty crazy about and all that jazz. Shall we jump right in?

First up, Maybelline's Master Drama Kohl Liner in Ultra Black. I rarely leave the house without some black eyeliner on my waterline. Rarely, as in I think I've gone without it only a handful of times in the last 2 to 3 years. It's basically a part of my face at this point. I used to use this home-made kajal my mom used to make (pretty common amongst Asian women apparently) and then I switched to a kajal stick that my gran had gotten me from Dubai. The home-made stuff was good for a while but I feel it dries up too quickly and then you have to make more and it's just really annoying. The stick one ran out and I obviously could't just go to Dubai and get a new one (as much as I would love to), so I had to look for an alternative and I found Maybelline's kohl liner. And I'm not kidding when I say I love this more than either of the other two. It is purely amazing - it's soft & creamy, super pigmented and doesn't smudge nearly as much as the others used to. And it's so much neater too. This has become a staple product in my make-up bag and I would be so lost without it.

Maybelline Master Drama Kohl Liner in Ultra Black

The only fault Maybelline's eyeliner could possibly have is being difficult to remove, and that brings me to my next item: the Simple Kind to Eyes Nourishing Eye Make Up Remover Cream. I bought this around the time I got the Maybelline Lasting Drama Black Shock Gel Liner (review here) 'cause I just knew that would difficult to remove. And I was right, it didn't come off at all with my E45 cream, which I usually use to remove liners. But after rubbing a little bit off the Simple cream, the eyeliner wiped right off with a cotton pad. I bought it as part of a 3 for 2 deal, along with a moisturiser and eye make up remover pads. I honestly didn't think I'd get much use out of the cream and that I'd use the pads more, but it turned out to be the complete opposite. I love the cream, but hate the pads: they don't do much at all.

Simple Kind to Eyes Nourishing Eye Make Up Remover Cream

Another favourite was the Simple's Kind to Skin Replenishing Rich Moisturiser. I find that most moisturisers just sit on the skin and make my face feel kinda oily. This one? Sinks right in. No oiliness at all. As I said in my post on Etude House's scrub review (here), my skin is on the drier side, but Simple's moisturiser keeps my skin feeling smooth and soft.

Simple Kind to Skin Replenishing Rich Moisturiser

Speaking of Etude House's scrub, the Baking Powder Crunch Pore Scrub was another product I loved this month. I won't go into too much detail here, if you want to know more about this then check out my full review here.

Etude House Baking Powder Crunch Pore Scrub

Since this is my first monthly favourites post, I thought I'd give a mention to my Carmex lip balm too. It's something I use so many times in a day and it's always within reach.

Last beauty related product I'm going to mention is my Etude House Sweet Recipe Dear My Jelly Lips Talk lipstick in JPK001. When you apply it, it comes off a very sheer pink but after a while it darkens slightly, giving a nice pop of pink on your lips. It's a very natural looking lippy and has been my go to lipstick this month. (I tried to get a swatch picture but my camera refused to pick up the colour)

Etude House Sweet Recipe Dear My Jelly Lips Talk in JPK001

And finally, last but definitely not least, my favourite books of the last month (or maybe just favourite books ever), Jurassic Park and The Lost World, both by Michael Crichton. Anyone who knows me well enough knows how obsessed I've pretty much always been by the films, and I finally got around to reading the books this month. And I was not disappointed, the books are just as amazing as the films (the first two films, the third was a traumatic experience for me as a 7-year-old sitting near the front of the cinema). I loved how different the characters were in the book compared to the film, with some being the complete opposite to their movie counterparts. I loved the descriptions of the park, the people and especially the dinosaurs. Basically, I loved everything about these books and am considering getting more of Crichton's novels. I got both of these from Book Depository (cheap, free shipping, fast delivery - what's not to love?).

The one thing that did irk me was how different the second film was to it's novel. From what I've read, fans and critics alike put pressure on Crichton to write a sequel, but it was after Steven Spielberg joined in on the urging that he wrote the second novel. Who asks for a novel to be written so they can make a move adaptation and then uses extremely little from said novel in the film? Don't get me wrong, I still love both the film and novel, I just wish they had taken a little bit more from the novel.

Well, that's all the things I've been loving this month. What have been your favourite products this month? Anything I should be trying out? Let me know in the comments below!